Tourism Australia: Visit by Oprah huge boost for industry

Oprah Winfrey is heading to Australia and is taking 300 of her US viewers with her.

The American TV talk-show queen announced her visit on Monday’s premiere episode of the farewell season of her show, surprising a hysterical studio audience.

During her Australian visit, Winfrey will film at least two episodes of her talk show, including on December 14 at the Sydney Opera House when the iconic building will be transformed into the Sydney “Oprah” House.

Thousands of Winfrey’s Australian fans will be invited to sit in the audience.

“I wanted to kick off my 25th season in a big way and I’ve heard Australia is the ultimate adventure,” Winfrey said.

“We’ll sail Sydney Harbour, some will sample shiraz in Aussie wine country and others will shop ’til they drop in trendy Melbourne,” Winfrey told the delirious audience.

“We’ll get up close with kangaroos and koalas, kick back on some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and experience one of the seven wonders of the world – the Great Barrier Reef.

“Then we’ll all meet at the spectacular Sydney Opera House, where thousands of our Aussie ultimate viewers will join us for an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime Oprah Show experience.”

The 300 audience members were also presented with another gift, a Motorola smartphone that Winfrey said was “water resistant, so if you drop it at the Great Barrier Reef, no worries”.

Tourism Australia has refused to reveal which other destinations are on Winfrey’s Australian itinerary until 11am.

Her specially-chosen audience of 300 “ultimate viewers” will be flown from the US to Australia for the eight-day, all-expenses-paid holiday by celebrity pilot and Pulp Fiction actor John Travolta, CNN has reported.

“I wanted to kick off my 25th season in a big way and I’ve heard Australia is the ultimate adventure,” Winfrey said.

“It’s one of the places I’ve always wanted to visit, and who better to take with me on this trip of a lifetime than some of my most loyal viewers.

“My team has been planning this trip for almost a year and we are so excited to go Down Under.”

The eight-day, seven-night trip, called Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure, will take place in December as 300 fans travel via Qantas Airways to Sydney.

Boost for tourism

The visit will be a huge boost for Australian tourism, as Winfrey’s show is syndicated to 215 TV stations across the US and 145 countries.

“For many people around the world, Australia is a dream destination,” Andrew McEvoy, managing director of Tourism Australia said.

“Today we turned that dream into a reality for some of Oprah’s ultimate viewers. We are excited to show them and Oprah’s global audience why there really is nothing like Australia.”

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said the arrival of the most popular US talk fest ever would be a massive boon for the industry.

He said the program’s weekly following of 40 million American viewers, and the fact it is screened in 145 countries, meant the trip would put Australia’s beauty on the world stage.

“Oprah is a global household name and her star power has the potential to lift Australia’s profile as a premier tourist destination,” he said in a statement.

Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon said Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure theme was perfect for selling the country’s tourism experiences to the rest of the world.

“We know Australia is a dream destination for millions of people,” he said.

“The partnership with The Oprah Winfrey Show is a real opportunity to show how they can make their dream a reality.”

Sydney Chamber of Commerce executive director Patricia Forsythe said Winfrey’s visit “is a brilliant initiative” that will boost tourism “both in the short term and in the longer term”.

“I think it is terrific, at a time when our dollar is up we have to find some new strategies to attract tourists [and] there is no doubt Oprah will do exactly that,” she said.

“There is absolutely no doubt that Oprah coming to Sydney, the fact she is coming to the Opera House [will mean] that we are going to see some terrific shots of Sydney going around the world.”

Mrs Forsythe said the reported $1 million the state government is spending to get the TV queen to Sydney “is money well spent”.

“In terms of television exposure, it is nothing compared to the value that we will get in terms of exposure,” she said.

But Mrs Forsythe warned government authorities they will need to be prepared.

“I guess our hope is that on the day of the show that we don’t have any glitches in transport as the only things that ever let us down is our infrastructure, so hopefully we get it right,” she said.